


Jelly Jar

by Jessie2126



Series: Madney Prompts, 1 Shots, and Drabbles. [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:33:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24329605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessie2126/pseuds/Jessie2126
Summary: This one takes place quite a while after the season 3 finale, at this point, Maddie is 7 months pregnant.The original prompt is:You found me crying on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night surrounded by a shattered jelly jar
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Series: Madney Prompts, 1 Shots, and Drabbles. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760506
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Jelly Jar

Maddie honestly had no idea why she was so upset. She was now 7 months pregnant, so this should have been the happiest time of her life. She knew how loved she was, and in a way, that was the problem. Whether she was at the firehouse or hanging out one on one with Buck and Chim, she was being waited on hand and foot. They were all constantly checking on her and asking if there was anything they could do to help. That had led her to this moment, curled up on the floor, surrounded by shards of broken glass and strawberry jam. It was the easiest thing in the world, just a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had woken up with a start, stomach growling. She'd gazed softly at Chim, sleeping beside her. She could have woken him up, but he had just wrapped a 24-hour shift and was absolutely exhausted when he arrived home. Also, she just wanted to do something on her own for a change. That’s where her troubles began.

Both her and Chim were not the tallest people, so their fridge usually had all the essentials close to the bottom. However, with her being pregnant, everyone had pitched in, and now it was fully stocked with at least 10 casserole dishes. The jelly was right at the top. Standing on her tip-toes, she reached up. But her aim was a little off, so her fingers hit the side of the jar, which slipped right off the edge and shattered, shards of glass and jelly splattering everywhere. She froze in terror. While her trauma was behind her, her triggers were still present. She just remembered the first time she had ever broken something around Doug, the wine glasses from his parents. His anger had come out full force that night. That was the first time she had ever really been afraid of him. She felt herself hit the floor and could feel her breathing quicken as she began to shake back and forth. In the midst of all this, she was vaguely aware of pounding feet running towards her.

“Maddie? Is everything okay, I thought I heard-Oh my goodness!!!! Maddie, stay right there, don’t move.” He carefully navigated through the glass and knelt down in front of her, taking her face in his hands. “Hey, Maddie, look at me, just breathe. I know, I know, it’s the glass, it just takes you back to him. I’m right here, you are fine, you are safe, and I promise I’m not going anywhere.” Removing his hands from her face, he wrapped her in a tight hug, rubbing her back and holding her close. “I’m right here, I promise, I would never hurt you, you’re completely fine and safe, just take some nice, slow, deep breaths.” It was his touch that was the most effective in helping her calm down. As their relationship deepened, they had both had to learn to open up and trust each other. She had constantly had conversations with him about how uncomfortable Doug’s touch would often make her, and he allowed her to take things as slow as she needed regarding when and where he touched her. As he held her in his arms, she could feel her heart begin to slow down and her breathing begin to even out. Once she had calmed down completely, he lightly disentangled himself from her and stood up. “Alrighty, stay right there, let me just grab a broom.” He quickly swept up the mess and offered her a hand to help her stand. “As amazing as my linoleum is, I think the couch might be a bit more comfortable.” She gave a light smile and the two of them sat beside each other on the couch. He gave her an inquisitive look. “So, do you want to talk about it?”

"Not really, but you're going to make me anyway, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Maddie, I completely understand how difficult this all is for you, and I swear I’m not trying to push you, but I know what it’s like to hold stuff in. I love you so much, and I need you to be able to tell me what’s going on. Holding all this in isn’t good for you, and it’s especially not good for the baby.”

"Ever since we got pregnant, I just keep feeling like I’m a burden. I know you all care about me so much, and I appreciate it more than any of you will ever understand. But I just can’t help thinking that I’m too much, or like you’ll all get tired of doing it, and I just wanted to try doing something for myself for once. I just keep thinking that if I ask for too much, you’ll just get tired and leave. And I hate myself for it, because I’m the dispatcher, it’s my job to help people, it shouldn’t be the other way around. And when the jar hit the floor, it just took me back to that moment with him, where I felt like no matter how hard I tried to make things right, they would just keep falling to pieces.”

“Oh, Maddie, no, never. We all love you so much, and we just want to take care of you. You never, ever have to be afraid to come to us for anything. We’ll always help, and we’ll always do it willingly, because that’s how much we care. I know Doug was awful, and I still can’t get over what he did to you. But you are so strong. Look at how far you’ve come. You are going to be an amazing mom, and we are going to get through this together. Please, if it ever gets to be too much, tell us. We could all probably loosen up a little. I think we’ve all just got baby fever. But, if you ever need to talk about anything, I think that it goes without saying that you can always come to me.”

She smiled as she gazed up at him. For her, opening up had always been such a hard process. But his kindness and support had made her trust and love so much more. She felt so safe in that moment, as if she could do and say anything and he’d always be right there. “I love you so much, you know that?”

He nodded, “I know, I love you too. He lightly rested a hand on her stomach. “And we love you so much too, little one.”

She beamed up at him. “I swear, our kid is going to come out of the womb saying I love you.”

"Well, there are definitely worse phrases."

She laughed, “Very true. I’m so sorry, I mean, the kitchen is a mess. I woke you up right after you ended your shift, and you found me crying on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night surrounded by a shattered jelly jar.”

"I love you, and if you break a thousand more jars, I still wouldn’t mind. Now, I’m going to go mop the kitchen floor, and you are going to bed. I promise, you can do all the mopping when our baby is born, but for the moment, that’s my job. Oh, and first thing tomorrow morning, we are reorganizing that fridge.”  
“Okay, you win, but that’s only cause I’m really tired at the moment.”

He gave her a long kiss as they rose from the couch. “I love you so much Madeline.”

She leaned into him, “I love you more Howie.” As Maddie lay in bed, listening to Chim cleaning up, she couldn’t stop wondering how she had gotten so lucky.


End file.
